The moon is earth’s closest, albeit inconstant, companion. Over the centuries, humans have blamed the moon for tides, fertility, werewolves and madness — mostly incorrectly. It’s such an intrinsic part of our night sky that we don’t even give it a proper name, simply an article: the moon. Of course, it’s had many names across many cultures, some of which still linger. The study of the moon is selenology, thanks to the Greek goddess Selene; her Roman counterpart was Luna. In China, the moon goddess was Chang’e, a name now bestowed upon the Chinese space agency’s lunar missions. It’s only thanks to such exploration that we’ve learned what we know about the moon.
The Moon and Water
Humans have long associated oceans with the moon, understanding from observation that, even before we knew why, the moon influenced the tides. We now know the moon’s gravitational pull tugs at Earth’s bodies of water.
